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A Windsor Not

by | 23rd, February 2005

‘THE Queen can hardly claim distance as her excuse for not turning up to her eldest son’s wedding – Windsor Guildhall is only 184 steps from the entrance to Windsor Castle.

The Queen preferred to curl up with a good book

And if HRH wants to break up the journey, the Sun says there are at least two pubs en route, one of which has offered the Royal party a drink on the house before the wedding.

So, it seems we must look elsewhere for the reason behind the Queen’s decision to become the first monarch in 142 years to shun one of her children’s wedding.

And the Mail suggests that the true reason is that she thinks the register office ceremony is ”vulgar” and demeaning to the monarchy.

”The announcement,” it says, ”is a major humiliation for the Prince and the strongest indication his mother could give that she does not approve of his decision to make Camilla Parker Bowles his second wife.”

The official line coming out of Buckingham Palace is that the Queen’s decision is in line with the couple’s wish for a low-key ceremony.

Along with Prince Philip, she will attend a blessing afterwards at St George’s Chapel.

Nor is the Queen the only notable absentee from Windsor Guildhall – none of Prince Charles’s siblings are planning to attend.

The Mirror says the snub is that much more astonishing because the Royal Family turned out in force for Princess Anne’s second marriage – to Cdr Tim Lawrence in 1992.

”For goodness sake,” splutters raspberry-cheeked Royal watcher James Whitaker, ”the Queen is the mother of the man who will one day be king.

”In any normal family throughout her land, you would expect the matriarch to be present at her heir’s wedding, even it is for the second time around.”

However, while all the papers fall over themselves in their rush to talk up the rift between the Queen and Prince Charles, they may be overlooking a more innocent explanation.

A quick glance at the TV schedules for April 8th, which reveals that the ceremony clashes with Kirsty’s Home Videos, explains the Queen’s reluctance to attend.

And as for Prince Andrew, well, Charles should have known that the date clashes with the monthly medal at Sunningdale…’



Posted: 23rd, February 2005 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink